Today's business news

Fri, 16 Jun 2017 13:00:42 +0000

$12m loan scheme cheers small miners

BY MAILESI BANDA

THE US$12 million credit guarantee facility made available to the development minerals sector in five countries including Zambia is a sign that there is potential for growth in the sector, a sand miner has said.

Abel Mwalibonsha said development minerals had not been given the much needed attention despite its potential in contributing to rural economic development.

Speaking in an interview with the Daily Nation, he said the funds would help the miners acquire equipment to meet the demands of their clients.

“The biggest challenge we have had has been that of equipment to produce more and meet our customers’ demands but with the funds we hope we will be able to get equipment,” he said.

Mr. Mwalibosha apealed to the custodians of the funds to ensure that development mineral miners benefited.

Last week the African Guarantee Fund for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises made available US $12 million in credit guarantee to the development of small minerals in Cameroon, Guinea, Nigeria, Uganda and Zambia.

The loans are expected to develop the development minerals sector in these countries and is expected to result in up to US$24 million in finance as guarantees to underpin 50 percent of each loan.

The financing is expected to boost the livelihoods of approximately 25,000 people and their dependants across some of Africa’s communities.

The loans are for small businesses that quarry, manufacture and trade in gravel, clay, granite, gypsum and other local materials critical for development in five African countries.

The loan scheme targets 5,000 micro, small and medium scale development minerals’ operators who will now have access to more affordable finance as a result of a partnership between the African Guarantee Fund for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises Ltd (AGF), the African Caribbean and Pacific Group of States, the European Union and the United Nations Development Programme.

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Zambia Sugar prepares for tough times ahead

By MAILESI BANDA

ZAMBIA Sugar Plc has embarked on a cost optimization programme aimed at resetting the cost base of the business, managing director Rebecca Katowa has announced.

Ms. Katowa said the company would continue to reposition its business to make it resilient to economic and climate headwinds.

Speaking during the launch of the ‘‘5S’’ campaign at the Nakambala estates, she said the campaign was aimed at achieving the resetting of the cost base of the business.

“The launch has come at the right time as we are repositioning our business to make it resilient to economic and climate headwinds,” she said.

She said the company had embraced on ‘‘5S’’ as one of the important elements in the continuous improvement program that the company had adopted and was integrating across its operations.

She explained that incorporating best practices was their pursuit to remain relevant in the changing business environment, adding that this would lead to the continued producing of quality products that met customer needs.

She said the ‘‘5S’’ approach formed the cornerstone for the other best practices implemented at Zambia Sugar which included safety, quality assurance and process flow.

She said as the campaign was being rolled out they expected improvements in the state of the working environment.

Meanwhile, Southern Province minister Edify Hamukale commended Zambia Sugar for their continued efforts to achieve excellence.

He said Zambia Sugar remained one of the country’s most viable and exemplary entities.

‘‘5S’’ is a systematic approach developed in Japan and consists of five Japanese concepts – all starting with the letter ‘‘S’’ – which, when translated in English, stands for Sort, Shine, Set in order to Standardise and Sustain.

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Tax incentives key to enhancing value addition

By BUUMBA CHIMBULU

THE development of tax incentives for local producers of goods that enhance value addition is cardinal in transforming local businesses, says the Zambia Association of Manufactures (ZAM).

ZAM chief executive officer, Chipego Zulu, said Zambia possessed an unexploited potential for increased industrialisation with capability to widen its export base beyond its current levels.

“With key regional export markets such as the Democratic Republic of Congo, Malawi, Zimbabwe and South Africa, Zambia has witnessed a growing demand for processed foods and household products which have presented to the country increasing opportunities to add value and export high value finished products,’’ she said.

She was speaking at the 2016 exporter audit result dissemination workshop in Lusaka recently. Ms Chipego observed that the private sector played a pivotal role in driving the economy, hence the need to put certain conditions in place.

She said despite the potential to contribute positively to economic development, the manufacturing sector’s contribution to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) had remained static over the last few years, averaging 8 percent.

She said certain conditions such as the development of tax incentives for the manufactures that enhance value addition opportunities would promote the sector’s contribution to the country’s GDP.

Ms Chipego said enhancing collaboration in the development of solutions aimed at enhancing the competitiveness of local products in regional markets was cardinal to promoting the sector.

“The manufacturing sector in 2016 experienced increased barriers to trade in target markets such as Zimbabwe which introduced a number of non-tariff barriers which added to the overall cost of exporting, making Zambian products uncompetitive in that market,” she said.

She observed that the inadequate supply and increasing cost of electricity in 2016  and the 75 percent tariff in 2017 increased costs of doing business for the sector.

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New deal to promote financial security

By SHEILA SAKUPWANYA

CAVMONT Bank and Prudential Life Assurance Zambia (PLAZ) have signed a three-year memorandum of understanding (MoU) to support the Credit Life Assurance (CLA) policy for short and medium term loans.

The K10 million Cavmont Bank CLA policy would ensure greater financial security for the bank’s borrowers with loans of up to K50,000 and would cover their unforeseen circumstances such as Total Permanent Disability (TPD), Total Temporal Disability (TTD), and loss of employment due to retrenchment, among other things.

Cavmont Bank chief executive officer  Charles Carey said the landmark partnership with PLAZ would enable the bank provide facilities for customers and grow its lending capacity beyond the current support of K531 million of which 75 per cent was taken up by Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs).

Mr Carey said this at the MoU signing ceremony between Cavmont Bank and Prudential Zambia held at Prudential House in Lusaka yesterday.

“We hope our partnership will create a gateway to even more partnerships that will boost Cavmont’s capacity to impact at a personal and household level,” said Mr Carey.

And PLAZ managing director Krishnaswamy Rajagopal said the future for growth and transformation in the financial sector in Zambia was through building partnerships.

He said PLAZ was confident that the partnership would enable them offer their shared customers greater financial protection and security.

“We honor all claims to our customers having already paid out over K15 million last year and we are confident that this partnership will enable us to offer mutual customers greater protection and security,” Mr Rajagopal said.

He noted that both Cavmont Bank and Prudential were trusted brands known for putting their customers first, hence PLAZ believed that the MoU would mark the beginning of an exciting partnership between them.

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ZRA nets K6m from cooking oil imports

By Chintu Malambo

THE Zambia Revenue Authority has collected over K6 million from the importation of cooking oil during the period 1st January to 15th June 2017, ZRA senior corporate communications officer, Oliver Nzala, has said.

Mr Nzala said the importation of cooking oil was accompanied by necessary import permits, which are issued by the Ministry of Agricultural and conform to the standard of the Zambia Bureau of Standards.

“The importation of cooking oil is always accompanied by necessary import permits and these permits are issued by the Ministry of Agriculture and conform to the standards of the Zambia Bureau of Standard s,” he said. In addition to the K6 million, Mr Nzala said that through the enforcement activities under the Mobile Compliance Unit, the authority seized cooking oil imports on account of under-valuation, resulting in additional revenue of K124,000.

He said the authority also seized cooking oil amounting to over 31,300 litres at Chirundu One Stop border post while another 440 cases of D’lite cooking oil were seized in Kazungula.

He said that ZRA had put strict measures to ensure that smuggling was curbed.

“ZRA has put stringent measures to ensure that smuggling is curbed through random and risk-based activities, the use of Electronic Cargo Tracking System (ECTS) and encouraging the public to provide information on smuggling; collaboration with neighbouring countries, the use of non-intrusive equipment and increasing the prosecution of smugglers,” he said.

Mr Nzala noted that goods of a high tax value in nature such as alcoholic beverages, edible oils, cigarettes and motor vehicles were the most smuggled in the country.